In Search of Excellence

Lessons from Americas Best-Run Companies

By Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman, Jr.

EIGHT BASIC PRINCIPLES

#1 A bias for action a preference for doing something or anything rather than sending a question through cycles and cycles of analyses and committee reports. Staying close to the customer learning his preferences and catering to them. Autonomy and entrepreneurship breaking the corporation into small companies and encouraging them to think independently and competitively. Productivity through people creating in all employees the awareness that their best efforts are essential and that they will share in the rewards of the companys success. Hands-on, value driven insisting that executives keep in touch with the firms essential business. Stick to the knitting remaining with the business the company knows best. Simple form, lean staff few administrative layers, few people at the upper levels. Simultaneous loose-tight properties fostering a climate where there is dedication to the central values of the company combined with tolerance for all employees who accept those values.

#2 #3

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#5 #6 #7 #8